A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and systems for updating a wireless unit. More particularly, the present invention relates to methods and systems for simultaneously updating a plurality of wireless units.
B. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication systems, such as mobile telecommunication systems or air-to-ground systems, are well known and widely used. Many of these systems include wireless units having complex application software. Periodically, the software of these wireless units must be updated to reflect, more advanced versions of the software as they become available or changes in system parameters as determined by a system manager.
This updating process is particularly troublesome in an air-to-ground communication system. In such a system, the aircrafts include a variety of complex application software relating to various on-board communication and control units. Moreover, aircrafts typically have a variety of data which must be transferred to the ground stations on a periodic basis as well. Updating the application software of an aircraft can take an extensive amount of time. In addition, the updating is typically done for one aircraft at a time. Thus, for a large fleet of aircraft, the updating process is lengthy and expensive. An additional processing constraint with air-to-ground wireless communication systems is determining which specific radio base station is within the transmission range of the aircraft. This requirement necessitates that the ground station know the particular location of the aircraft at any given time, thereby presenting prohibitive mapping requirements. Therefore, there is a need for a wireless communication system which can update a large number of wireless units in an efficient manner.
Systems and methods consistent with the present invention allow data files to be efficiently transferred between a ground switching station and a plurality of wireless units.
To achieve these and other advantages, wireless communication systems and methods consistent with the present invention include a central station, a mobile unit and a plurality of radio base stations. The central station receives from the mobile unit registration information identifying the radio base station currently in communication with the wireless unit. This registration information is then stored in a registration database located at the central station. Files are then transferred from the central station to the mobile unit using the radio base station identified by the registration information stored in the registration database.
Both the foregoing general description and the following Detailed Description are exemplary and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.